Stunning grabs from the demo by Neogaf member...
Visually, there isn't really anythin comparative. Its simply not over-whelmingly loaded with normal-maps but then again, back-grounds reek with details.

Especially see the serpent screen on Chimaera, and the cave screens. They are CGish:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=18284...

Enjoy!

visually it's no uncharted 2 or killzone 2. but it's definately up there with the best imo. i still stand by what i said a while ago that the kratos character model is one of the best in a game EVER. he is insanely detailed and well textured. enemies looks great too with the same amount of care and attention seen on kratos himself. the downside is the environments, while they are suitably epic in scale and looks, they just dont stand out as being any better then most games out there as far as detail goes. where i really like the games visuals is effects. something which a lot of sony exclusives seem to focus on, the depth of feild, the awesome lighting where ever swing of the blades causes the environment to light up realistically. the way the dark dank caves actually look wet, and not just plastically bump mapped. visually i love the game and considering everything that is going on in the demo, it's hella impressive to say the least, just not quite uncharted 2 quality, but then, what is?

gameplay wise it's same old same old, which for me isnt a bad thing at all, i think the GOW games are the best action games for a reason, and this GOW 3 is just strengthening those feelings, i love the pacing, the flair of the combat and the general feel of the gameplay. they've added some cool elements to extend what was already a good base of combat by allowing you to "control" the enemies, and i can only imagine the potential for combo's and chains once the cyclops and harpies get together to attack you, moving from ground to air seemlessly. as for hit detection, i've not encountered any of the issues sath has, when i hit an enemy they reel back from the impact, thus allowing me to get more hits in, sure they still attack, but if they didnt it would be an incredibly boring and easy experience.

the flight gameplay, though pretty basic, looked great and added some nice variety into the mix. it really did feel like you where controlling a cinematic cutscene.

overall i loved it, but then i loved the first 3 games so it's not really surprising, they taken what i consider to be the best action game on the market, and ramped up the "epic" scale to 11. anyone who hasnt been sold on the god of war games prior to this demo, isnt going to be converted any time soon tho.

I adore this series and find it to be among the funnest I have experienced but there has always been one thing that bothered me. The weapon design. I know it is a moot point, especially so late in the series, but I can't help but wish their was a little more emphasis on the ruthlessness/severity of the weapon design and less of the visual "hollywood-flare". Then again the series is built upon over-the-top brutality so maybe I am just too picky....*goes back to enjoying the game.

Please do not speak if you have not played the demo as I have several times over.There are a lot of new combat features in the demo and you have to play it yourself to realize that.I could make a list,but it's too long.

Day 1! Love this series but it would have been even better if Jaffe were there.

There are tons of new movesi n the demo man,but they don't tell you.You have to experiment with the each weapon.Also NG2 was no different from NG1 outside of the added gore and GOW3 has much better/more realistic gore so far.

DMC4 was trash and I had DMC3 to no that they added absolutely nothing new to DMC4 outside of Nero.here's a couple of new features in GOW3,Kratos has better grapple attacks which include using an enemy as a battering ram (no game in the history of gaming has done that) and he can slam an enemy's head against the wall.You also have the stronger enemies giving orders to the weaker enemies and they pile up on Kratos and become more aggressive.So tell me where did GOW1 & 2 do the things that i just said?

Also this is an older build of an unfinished game and you are comparing it to finished products like DMC4 and NG2 which neither are on par with GOW2.Come on now,the game has tons of new features and will be incredible.

DarthNemesis, if you really believe NG2 was no different from NG1 except gore interms of combat then you I dont want to argue with you because you have no idea what you are talking about.

I do know that in GOW3, now that you mentiond it, GOW3 has some new moves such as the grapples, I dont remember that from GOW2 (only one I played), but the whole sub bosses giving orders to smaller ones, thats not a combat feature, I am talking about key combat features here for Kratos, and the only one "I" can think of is the weapon grapple which is pretty nice, grab from air, diagional, ground, and the grab-and-run.

All this is my opinion from the DEMO I played, which is the E3, nothing more and nothing less. I didnt say final now did I?
I am keep hoping for the best as the moves go on and I am gonna buy it regardless, but thats only because of the story and the epic approach GOW is known for.

Kratos' selfish quest for vengeance is a story I would like to see ended. Please let this be the last of the GOW series! (The Santa Monica guys are a talented bunch and I would like nothing more than to see a new intellectual property from them.)

Is it just me, or are the characters and environments made out of clay or something?

Probably just me I'm guessing.

hardy har har har! Not clay silly animal friend ... maybe polygons and advanced computer geometry. Now excuse me as I Gumbi-slide into the horizon with Pokey.

Yeah, the clay stuff reminds me of that Conan the Barbarian game, with its mapping.

Someone arguing about NG and co with Sath, that man is brave, you wont win so just give up

I will make this short, looks fucking ace.

Believe me that even I have MANY problems with NG, but combat alone NG2/S2 is unbeatable for me, just like GOW and DMC is for others.
But from a personal standpoint, NG2/S2 beats GOW in combat system.

But again, GOW3 makes the job done for you to play it and continue through the epic journey simple as that and I have come to know that I have stopped comparing (long time ago) one combat system to another, each title has their own and if I keep comparing its gonna be hard for me personally to find more titles.

But there is something called "polished" combat, stuff like fluid animation, hit detection/impact, weight to the character/weapons, tight and responsive controls, alot of various seperated moves and weapons, many devs cant do it right, or they nail some of it done but there is always something wrong with something else which is a shame.

Thoseare the important stuff to a great combat.
The only thing GOW3 from the DEMO I played is lacking is the hit detection, sometimes the sub bosses will do their thing and not care about you hitting them.
Even NG has this, but thats called perfect animation timing (sometimes even those bastards dont care), I have tried this with the demo and most of the time it doesnt register at all.

But as I said, its a very old demo and I am sure they have tightened some stuff in the combat up in the latest built from such as the Eurogamer Expo or whatever it was.

I remember Hayashi saying in a early interview for NGS that the very first thing they do for Ryu is to make him as fluid as possible and make the weapons be as impactful as possible and it truly shows what they focus on alot, the combat, because thats 90% percent of the time you are doing is fighting.
Santa Monica and the guys who made Batman game and even the Wolverine game has nailed the combat down that arent japanese, alot of kudos to them and hope others do the same because I prefer western artstyle and story.

I just hope Dantes Inferno and Castlevania Lords of Shadow follows the Wolverine/Batman way, they were great, especially Wolverine that took me by surprise.Well I am giving up now because I have repeated myself like 3 times now, no need to drag it on ;)

I got to say though, that CE armor looks great on Kratos, the DLC version, Dominus armor or whatever its called, gotta get me that one.

Personally sath i dont want a complicated fighting mechanic, it takes the fun away for me.

Thats why some games like GOW, Batman, Wolverine, Dantes Inferno? is being made, not everyone likes very deep combat, sometimes I dont like them either.
Just want to pick up and just go crazy and do some nice attacks with simple button presses, but its all moods for me ;)

I findgames that are pick up and play very boring unless it has something cool going on that make me forget the simplistic combat like Batman for example and this game too,GoW series has the massive epic scale goin on so its cool but Bayonetta has that too and with the most deep combat system in existence so I guess GoWs are losing ground here to be honest but sadly this game will sale a lot more good for them bad for gamers like myself or yourself too.

Hehe that is such a no, mind telling me how you came to that conclusion? Take your time :P

You said it like its a fact and thats why I find it funny, and you said in "existence" thats a extremely bold thing to say.

I would be glad if you could prove me wrong :)

I could make a list of things that Bayonetta does and no other action game does in the combat system but this is not the place for it as for the scale thing just look if you want at some levels and bosses of Bayonetta and you will see what Im talking about,there is no other combat system more deep as the one in Bayonetta hell in the demo alone I could make some moves only in dreams Dante,Kratos and Ryu could dare to make them.

lol, you see that thing flying out your window....that's your credibility...hahaha :P

What? why?

Im not telling some thing I imagined or something,I have played almost all action games including DMC4 and NG2 that those are in this gen and Bayonetta does a lot of things more advanced and better than those games let alone the ones in the last generation so I fail to see why are you saying this.

But I will say that I will form a more educated opinion when I play the full game because if that its only with the demo I cant imagine what I will do with the full game so I will shut up now I see you guys in a couple of months and then we will see what game has the better combat system.

Bayonetta is set in such an abstract and frankly, silly world that the many of the "moves" are not really moves at all but freaked out magic spells. Nothing wrong with that in fact I find it quite charming but the Mythological backdrop of GOW means that what the protagonist is capable of has to stay somewhat grounded to maintain it's visceral edge.

For me, that makes the combat of GOW3 simply much more satisfying regardless of how many wacky giant spiked heels Bayonetta hurls around.

same. there's no doubt that NG and even DMC has a far more deep combat system, but i just never found it very satisfying. i honestly think it's quite hard to compare GOW and the typical action genre titles like DMC, they play so differently. sure they both have combo counters, but god of war is quite a slow and focused game. it has more in comon with an action/adventure title then it does an pure action title in terms of how the games feel and plays. kinda like the conan game (which was terrible) the combat feels weighty and meaty if that makes sense, compared to NG which feels feathery and light.

NG, DMC and the upcoming bayonetta rely too heavily on speed for my liking, there are times when you completely lose track of what's going on or where you are. in god of war the combat is much slower, but far more stylish. and thats what i prefer (same reason i like soul caliber a lot). i dont want to be dashing around the environment like a complete idiot, i want to kick ass without the need of cat like reflexes and i wanna look awesome doing it. the story, production values and epic scale are just the cherry on the cake for me.

GOW is accessible, in the same way the games sath mentioned where (wolverine, heavenly sword, batman) but that's what i want. and in that regard GOW does it better then anything else out there. and it does it in a style i can genuinely appreciate and get absorbed into. bayonetta, as munkini said, is "silly" and rediculous without any sort of direction, just becasue you CAN do something, doesnt mean you should, bayonetta is the definition of that imo. it isnt funny, smart or interesting, it's just stupid. the combat system is there, no doubt, but outside of that it's practically a spoof of the genre, a joke if you will.

"NG, DMC and the upcoming bayonetta rely too heavily on speed for my liking"]

You you see that thing going out of the window?

Its your credibility,Just because you don't have the skills man.....I mean its just.....I dont know what to say and you call bayonetta silly?

I will say no more.

Ryu and Kratos cant do what Bayonetta does because they dont have guns, and the sword attacks from her is stupid compared to what they can do. Magic spells and stuff, well, its just different.
Ryu is more grounded to reality than Bayonetta, if anything, Dante (DMC3) version is the only one that can pull it off considering he can real time switch weapons and have guns and swords like Bayonetta.

"almost all action games"

Have you also played the games that never leave outside of Japan?
Just because YOU have played a game and you think you seen it all doesnt mean thats it.

For example in NG2, I thought I was awesome and knew all the moves, until I see on youtube that there is one famous gamer called "Xinxin" or something, he does some moves that I didnt think it was possible, ever.

You have to watch real veterans of that specific franchise/IP play until you can see which game has the most "deep combat" and what is possible.

And I also agree with what Munkini said.
Bayonetta is way too "unique" and "out there" to make other characters try to copy it. Why would you want any male character have their outfit transform into a animal and leave them naked for a few seconds or have them do sexual poses each attack they do or make sexual taunts :P

You see where I am getting at?
Bayonetta is freeform with alot of moves yes, but so is DMC but Bayonetta is just way out there because they went over the top sexual with the game with a female character, so its hard to say something like "hell in the demo alone I could make some moves only in dreams Dante,Kratos and Ryu could dare to make them."
And GOW and NG isnt, they have specific patterns that can be bent a bit, but not in the same style like DMC and Bayonetta.

For example today i played GOW3 demo again and this time i decided to mainly just focus on the moves. Even though I could figure out how to make some moves that were sperated moves into a combo, its still the same moves that has to be done before I could do it again.
Unlike games like DMC and Bayonetta, they made sure that the combat is crazy and stylistic and freeform as possible, and they did a great job at it.

I said it before and I will say it, each title has a specific combat system in mind, it just depends on what people prefer, and I still stick with NG being the deepest one of them all because its the most technical one were defense and counter attacking is your lifeline just like attacking is.
Where I seen others being dodging the only defense you can do (except GOW), but not saying its easier because of that because its definitely not.

Again, I am not saying this as a NG fanboy but rather a realist of how the combat works in general and how I look at these games.

From what I see, Dantes Inferno and probably Castlevania Lords of shadow will be like GOW, deep, but that crazy deep in combat and its a simple pick up and play and just have fun, and I like that, but as long as the combat is polished enough in the spots where it needs to be polished (which I mentioned before).


Edit: Again what KORNdog said :)

Thank god I can like any type, fast and reflex based to more slower and "strict" based, but as long as the combat is polished I am good to go :)

You see thats the thing then,we cannot say one game has better combat than the other because in the end ist what we looking for in a game,you said that you are inclined to NG more because its more technica right,well its to "YOU" but not for me and because I disagree then its not the better.

Not me not you not KORN or anyone can say one game has the better combat engine then and I gladly leave the subject,but if someone says that this game or that game its better than Bayonetta well we can have this argument forever honestly.

Just because you like or find more satisfying the NG combat than Bayonetta's combat doesn't mean its better we agree on that right?